


Leaving

by Merkwerkee



Category: Void Jumpers (Web Series)
Genre: Dragons, Unwise Decisions, needing cash to start a family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28290240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee
Summary: Faced with imminent progeny, Revess makes a hard decision about finance. H'verr disagrees.
Relationships: Revess/H'verr
Kudos: 1





	Leaving

Revess waited patiently as the soft, even breaths of his mate filled the wide halls of their city home.

It wasn’t much when compared to some of the other estates - the skeletal unicorn compound encompassed several blocks, and they were the main cause of some of the stranger traffic patterns of the city - but it was warm, and it was dry, and it was theirs. He’d fought hard for the territory that included the city, and he’d laid it at H'verr’s claws when he’d courted her so many years ago. She’d agreed to be his mate, out of all the others that had sought her favor, and they’d constructed this place together; it hadn’t been part of the city proper then, but the city had expanded out to include it.

H'verr loved the convenience of living in the city, and had been enthusiastically exacting as they’d constructed their home. No wind blew unpleasantly through gaps, no water dripped down the walls to mucky pools on the floor, and there was not a speck of mud to be found anywhere. It was a bit on the small side, being largely three rooms and some hallway sections, but she’d declared that she didn’t mind in the slightest and they’d lived very happily for several hundred years.

All that had changed two years ago. Dragons bred rarely, hatched slowly, and grew rapidly for their lifespans; both H'verr and Revess had been shocked and amazed when H'verr had laid twin eggs in their nest. They’d devoted that room immediately to the eggs, shuffling the bedding around to more firmly secure their precious offspring. Revess had gone out and purchased a clever human device that would keep the room at a steady, warm temperature for as long as it was fed equal parts wood and water, and H'verr had set about making their storage room into a temporary place to sleep.

The problem was that as the city had grown up around them, land had become quite dear. While it was true that their abode did not have many rooms, it was by no means actually small; the ceilings and corridors had to be both tall enough and wide enough to admit two fully-grown dragons, and they were not small creatures. All around them were other living places, apartments and boarding houses that were home to the roving multitudes that passed through on their way to perform in or simply watch the goings-on at the colosseum. Even purchasing one of the other buildings would cost more than the gold they had, and never mind about knocking it down and expanding their abode into the space.

Revess had done what he could; hauling things about the countryside like some form of airborne wagon was hardly work befitting a black dragon, but it paid and that was what counted. He’d managed to pull together enough in a year to buy one of the houses adjacent to theirs, and had nearly enough now to buy a second one before they started demolition. The real problem was that the hauling jobs were beginning to dry up. The Blight was beginning to reclaim the outlying farms, and anything within a certain radius of the city refused to pay his prices, even after he’d lowered them twice. He hadn’t worked in a week by the time things came to a head, and had in fact been forced to divest some of their hard-won gold to keep meat on the table.

It was actually at the butcher’s shop where he’d heard the news about the colosseum. Revess had never paid any particular attention to the colosseum; he’d watched it being constructed but H'verr had never shown any interest so there had been no pressing reason for them to visit the place. He hadn’t been the only person at the butcher’s shop, however, and he’d overheard two humans excitedly discussing the possibility of winning a large sum of gold coins by competing. The thought had stayed with him as he’d taken home the bog-lizards he’d purchased for himself and his mate. When he’d told her about what the humans had said about working at the colosseum, she’d been reluctant to agree but he’d managed to persuade her by promising her she could watch.

So the next day they’d gone to the colosseum together; H'verr had gone to the stands, and Revess had presented himself to the master of games. He’d ended up paired to a saw-billed reaverbird named Scraw, and had competed in the chariot races. The first lap had gone fine, Scraw being a surprisingly good match for him in flight speed, and Revess had been cautiously optimistic. The cheering of the crowd had been a heady thing, and he’d felt his wings beat just a little bit faster in response; he could get used to that.

And then everything had fallen apart.

They’d been running against a pair of skeletal unicorns - the family was large in the racing scene, apparently, though Revess hadn’t known at the time - and another pair of saw-billed reaverbirds whose names Revess had never learned. The second round had seen hazards begin to appear on the track, and while Revess had had to spend a great deal of concentration on avoiding them, the unicorns hadn’t been phased. They’d gored Scraw through the gut, his corpse dragging on the chariot until the charioteers had managed to cut the harness away to let him fall; that brought Revess’ chariot to the rear while the other two reaverbirds had continued forward with their charioteers harrassing the ones in the unicorns’ driving seat.

Revess had made a Herculean effort to pull up and back into the running as the unicorns had lost time and distance to evasive maneuvers, and driven by the loss of Scraw he’d made his biggest mistake of the race. Fueled by thoughts of revenge for _his_ teammate - no matter that he’d been introduced to the bird all of five minutes before the race had started - Revess had tried to belch acid all over the unicorns and their damned chariot. He only managed to strike one of the unicorns a glancing blow with the spray, but it was enough to paint him as the largest threat and they’d gone after him single-mindedly. He’d ended up gored almost half a dozen times - and slashed even more - before the reaverbird chariot had managed to cross the finish line for the last time and the unicorns were hauled off him.

The workers at the colosseum had patched him up and given him a few coins for participating. H'verr had nearly been beside herself, and had forbidden him from ever going back to the colosseum. Revess had agreed, and had so far kept his promise. But food was getting harder to come by, jobs were still scarce, and the eggs were beginning to show signs of hatching in the next few months. All that, and he’d found himself almost missing the noise of the crowd as time went by; he’d only had a taste, but he found that he craved at least a little more.

Revess held his breath as he carefully eased himself from out of the half-bed they’d managed to construct in the larder. H'verr grumbled and he froze, but she merely curled up into the warm cavity he’d left behind in the bedding and he sighed silently in relief. His injuries had finally healed, and what H'verr didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. They’d have money enough to expand their home, and money enough to keep their dragonlings fed until they were ready to face the world on their own.

Resisting the urge to nuzzle her one last time, he stole quietly out of the room and walked as softly as he could manage down the hallway. The room with their eggs was further away from the main entrance and exit than their current sleeping quarters were, but Revess couldn’t leave without reassuring himself that they were all right. And, indeed, in the soft glow of the clever device the eggs glittered faintly with just a touch of humidity. They were a little bigger around than one of his eyes, and they were _perfect_. He couldn’t wait to meet his offspring and show them all the good things life had to offer. He snuffled first one then the other carefully, checking them for signs of being too damp or too chilly, but both seemed to be doing well.

With the scent of the eggs lingering in his nostrils, he turned and headed for the main door. His steps weren’t any noisier, but thoughts of golden coins and full-bellied dragonlings tucked up to sleep distracted him enough that until a deliberate scuff of a claw on the wooden floor came from behind him, he didn’t realize he couldn’t hear H'verr’s breathing anymore.

“You’re going to the colosseum again.”

Her voice was flat, but he could still hear the note of hurt and Revess winced before turning around.

H'verr’s scales weren’t puffed out into a threat display, and Revess silently thanked the Continuum for that. He couldn’t afford any injuries before trying to race again.

“Yes.”

As much as she was hurt by what he was trying to do, he wouldn’t hurt her any more by trying to lie to her. He loved her far too much to do that.

Her wings rustled as she stalked closer.

“Why would you go back there, you nearly _died_ the last time. Do you want to leave your children fatherless just for the chance at some _gold_? Do you want me to raise two younglings by myself?”

Her voice had risen steadily as she’d spoken, and the last words were nearly a shriek. Revess ducked his head but met her eyes squarely.

“I’m _doing_ this for our children. They deserve a better life than to have to eat bones for supper because there’s no jobs to be had. _You_ deserve better than to have to grub for coins at the whims of some short-lived monkeys.”

H'verr snorted. “They deserve to grow up without a father? They deserve to be left alone while I pick up the slack? There’s food enough and space, we just have to keep working the jobs we have! There’s no need to go glory-seeking in some ridiculous death trap!”

Revess snarled, his own ire rising at her words. “I’m doing this for you! Not for some glory! Why can’t you see that?”

“All I see is a dragon who is _abandoning his responsibilities_. If you go to that, that place, you won’t come back! It’ll just use you up and sell your parts for magic and then where will we be?”

Revess’ temper flared. “Better off than you are right now I guess,” he snarled, and turned to slam his way out of the door. The thud of it closing behind him sounded far too final, but he didn’t look back as he spread his wings and took to the skies.

_“Haven’t you heard? There was an awful accident at the races yesterday! All three chariots destroyed in a pit, and no survivors! Such a shame, Speed Demon the black dragon was a four-time winner…”_


End file.
